Red wine versus white wine - is there a difference in health benefit?

Ever since Serge Reynaud's 'French Paradox' paper was published in The Lancet in 1991 wine consumers have had the mind set that only red wine is good for them. However, many experts disagree, and suggest that it does not matter whether the wine is white or red as long as it is consumed in moderation and on a regular daily basis; then you will gain significant health benefits.

It has been well documented that consuming alcohol in moderation can reduce mortality from all causes by 30-50% (1) due, mainly, to reducing our society's biggest killer, cardiovascular disease by up to 50% (2) and cancer by up to 24% (3). It is also good for relieving society's other big disease group - stress related illness. Vascular disease occurs when bad cholesterol (LDL) is deposited in artery walls and swells up, eventually rupturing, causing a clot to form which blocks off the artery, and thus denying the tissue supplied by that artery of blood, hence it dies.

Alcohol, consumed in moderation reduces the bad cholesterol and raises the good cholesterol (HDL) level, plus acts as an anti-coagulant (blood clotting preventative). Good cholesterol clears away bad cholesterol from atheromatous plaques in artery walls and takes it back to the liver for re-metabolism.

Wine, in addition, contain substances called antioxidants which inhibit bad cholesterol from being incorporated in the artery wall. The antioxidants also reduce the damage caused by the body's free radicals (toxic waste products) which help cause degenerative diseases in the body such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and aging.The benchmark antioxidants are vitamins E and C, but wine in particular contains the strongest antioxidants in nature called resveratrol, quercitin and epicatechin which are five times stronger than vitamin E. Frankel (5) has shown that no matter how much vitamin E you take, its antioxidant activity plateaus at 20%, whereas wines' antioxidants will plateau at 100% after a couple of glasses. It should also be noted here that the fermentation process of converting grapes into wine enhances the antioxidant level many times over, plus produces alcohol, which helps the absorption of antioxidants. This explains why wine is far superior for your health than taking concentrates grape extract which has been advocated by some misguided people.